Kentucky Ready to Wipe Out Bad Memories From 2022 Season

Vicky Graff Photo

Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow admits last year for both him and UK head coach Mark Stoops “left a really bad taste” in their mouths because the Cats ended 7-6 with a bowl game loss.

“I think we were ranked sixth in the country and if we beat Ole Miss we might have gone to fourth,” Marrow said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports.

Instead a procedure penalty wiped out a potential game-winning touchdown, UK lost and never had the same mojo after that in part because quarterback Will Levis was injured in the loss.

Kentucky opens this season Saturday against Ball State. Season tickets are sold out. Some national analysts are picking UK as their dark horse team in the SEC. Marrow said the hype is okay but UK players “better know” to stay focused on Ball State and nothing else.

“We have a lot of pissed off people because of the way things happened last  year,” Marrow said. “We are looking forward to a new year and getting after it. We are very appreciative of the tickets selling out. That was a big deal. Players see the hunger and excitement (of the fans).”

Kentucky could go off to a 5-0 start — the only road game is at Vanderbilt — before going to two-time defending national champion Georgia.

If that happens, Marrow said UK would not be overwhelmed by the challenge.

“I remember when we first got here and it’s kind of funny how different it was. That’s not a slap at nobody. The talent was just different (worse),” he said. “I was trying to recruit and at first people did not give a damn.

“Then we started getting four-star players and a five-star here and there. They (opposing coaches) started sending pictures (of a UK home game) of 2012 when it looked like there were only 2,000 people in the stands and asking recruits if that’s where you really wanted to go.

“Now the bar has got a lot higher and we like that. We got here and people said just get six wins and get to a bowl game. We did that. Once we got the 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes, we’ve never had another losing season (except for the SEC-only COVID year).

“From Benny Snell’s freshman class on we have been to a bowl game every year and I feel really, really good about this team.”

Marrow said UK had to catch Missouri, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina … and did. The “big elephant” in the room was Florida but UK won there in 2018.

“When we went down there and beat them it felt like the program went to another level,” he said. “Now we have to go get Georgia.”

Marrow said UK has played close games with Georgia and even Georgia coach Kirby Smart has praised UK as the most physical team the Bulldogs have played.

“We got to step up on offense and maybe this is the year we put it all together against Georgia,” Marrow said. “It used to be which game could we get a win. Now we look at it like there’s nobody we can’t beat. We look at the schedule and say we could beat these guys.

“We are ready to get this season going. We gotta take it one game at a time but we don’t fear anybody.”